Declaring that he’s “no threat to anybody,” Ottawa’s Mohamed Harkat vowed Thursday to fight his deportation using every legal means at his disposal.

“I will fight it to the end,” he said.

Harkat, 45, appeared at a Parliament Hill news conference one day after the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the government’s security certificate regime and reinstated a lower court decision that found him to be a member of the al-Qaida network.

Backed by his wife, Sophie, their lawyer, and supporters, Harkat, 45, said he is fearful of being deported back to his native Algeria, a country from which he fled more than two decades ago.

“If the government of Canada want to send me to Algeria, they have to send me with a box,” an emotional Harkat told reporters. “(Because) they are going to torture me and bury me.”

Harkat arrived in Canada in 1995 and claimed refugee status after spending five years in Pakistan. He was arrested in Ottawa on a security certificate in December 2002 in the heated aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

He told Thursday’s news conference that his long-held dream of winning a “fair and open trial” has been shattered by the Supreme Court, which ruled that the security certificate regime, although flawed, is consistent with the Canadian Charter or Rights and Freedoms.

It means Harkat’s 12-year legal battle to overturn his security certificate is at an end. His case now moves into a new legal phase that will determine whether he should be deported to Algeria, the country from which he fled more than two decades ago.

A government official selected by Immigration Minister Chris Alexander will have to determine first whether Harkat remains a serious threat to the security of Canada. If the minister’s delegate concludes such a risk exists, he must then assess what kind of risk Harkat would face if returned to Algeria.

Those two risk assessments must be weighed against one another to arrive at a deportation decision.

Harkat’s lawyer, Norm Boxall, said his client will “advance all his legal remedies” to ensure the upcoming process is fair.

Algeria is Canada’s biggest trading partner in the Middle East and North Africa region, and according to the federal government website, a “key partner” in the global fight against terrorism.

Canada has signed the UN Convention Against Torture, which includes a blanket prohibition against deportation to torture, yet the Supreme Court has opened the door to such deportations in “exceptional circumstances.” The nature of those exceptions have not been defined by the court.

Harkat’s wife, Sophie, said the family was “totally devastated and shocked” by this week’s court decision. They were prepared for the court to uphold the constitutionality of the regime, she said, but did not anticipate having the December 2010 judgment of Federal Court Judge Simon Noël reinstated.

That judgment deemed Harkat a member of the al-Qaida terrorism network and linked him to a number of Islamic extremists, including Saudi-born Ibn Khattab, Canadian Ahmed Said Khadr, a key al-Qaida figure, and Abu Zubaydah, a facilitator in the Osama bin Laden network.

“The worst part of this decision is that he will never have the chance to clear his name,” Sophie Harkat said.

Harkat said she’s disappointed in the justice system, but prepared to fight on to keep her husband in Canada. “I was hoping this nightmare would end. This will be the fight of our lives,” she said.

Meanwhile, Harkat’s supporters vowed to make the security certificate regime a political issue since the legal system is now closed to them.

“A Supreme Court ruling in favour of it does not make it a good law,” said Jessica Squires, of the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee. “If Parliament and Canadians want to salvage Canada’s international reputation as a place that values human rights, then it’s time for political action.”

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Harkat fears torture, death if returned to Algeria

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